There may be a few Route 66 fans here, but I would guess that few folks realize the full impact that the Disney movie "CARS" had on the Route. It brought back a tremendous amount of interest in the old road, and made millions of children, who would otherwise have never heard of 66, very aware of it indeed.

Now, Disney brings us a movie named "ONWARD". I know nothing about it, except that the preview email includes this image.

Glad to see them using a Van in a positive manner! Hopefully it will start a resurgence of Vanning with a younger generation and squelch the negative stereotypes that Hollywood has been fueling for decades!

On another note, the likeness to the Vanicorn Chevy Van is NOT coincidental. She posted pics of Pixar studios filming her van on Instagram a while back!

Well, if she let them take a bunch of pictures and didn't sign the copyright and contract paperwork beforehand, she probably has zero chance to get anything from Disney. Disney is an evil empire with plenty of good intellectual property lawyers who will be waiting to shred any claim she might make.

Well, it's a blue/purple van. So to that extent, sure, they are similar.

But, to me the Disney front end is rounded, and looks like an Express, not a G20. The custom window is different. Disney has a horse flying through space or the sky, she has a Unicorn standing on land or in water. She has mags, Disney has steel wheels. Disney has one fender flair, she has none. Disney has a conversion van style spare tire carrier on the back, she does not. She has side pipes, Disney does not. Disney side markers, door handles and mirrors are non-de script.

If they did this film like they did Cars, they spent a lot of time in the field researching. That may have included some photos of her van, but I would be willing to bet it included photos of many others as well.

The Route 66 people and places that inspired the people and places in the Cars movie trade on the notoriety, and enjoy having been the inspiration for places and characters fabricated for the movie. See "Cars on the Route" on Route 66 in Galena, KS.

I hope this van owner can't do the same. She has a tremendous opportunity to be an ambassador for the hobby, meeting and greeting kids at shows, showing them an "Onward"-like van, maybe hand out custom trading cards of her van...kids will want their photo in the van, or next to it. They will remember it for years to come. Or she can be bitter about it and not engage...I'd recommend the former.

If she loaned them her van (Or they rented it, or whatever), she should have known they would make a likeness of it. If it were my van, I would be stoked! the only downside would be people thinking you 'copied the onward van' rather than being the inspiration... that might get a little old, but I am sure she could get plenty of documentation from Pixar Studios to back her up.

Like DYNO DAVE said, this is a great opportunity! She can embrace this and really open the doors for a whole new generation of vanners to come through. This can help shed the stigma of 'Rape van, scooby van, murder van, etc.' Kids can look back on her van the same way most of us do the General Lee, A team Van, KITT, Airwolf, Herbie, and other great movie cars.